T-Minus 4 days until the deadline!

Pressure is on! We made big steps forward today - the drawers came in from Pier 1!!! So glad we didn't get the floor model, the brand new set looks really great and fits the space perfectly. No doubt, we are going to have to be smart with our space in the bathroom but it feels so much more open without the monstrosity of a cabinet that we had in there before - bleh. The drawers being in means good news for the Parent family - the guest bed is back (ok, except for Flick's 52 shirts to iron but those are portable). It feels so good to not have the bathroom belongings strewn about the guest bedroom. Oh, man, SO great!

So the toilet is caulked, sink is good to go, we have some face plates on the light switches/plugs, and Flick filled all the finishing nail holes in the wainscoting...our big guy on the to-do list for tomorrow is the caulking of the bathtub. We are ready to get some straight silicone on that beast - it will be good to take a shower at home again :) So, slightly on topic, I Googled some combination of words involving "silicone", "caulk", and "bathtub" last week and pulled up a nice little article entitled:

"Bathtub caulk butt jobs land N.J. women in hospital"

Talk about a teaser - I couldn't help but open the link. This brief little ditty was about a group of women in Jersey who were having silicone injections into their tushes for a little "lift". Turns out, the shady "Drs" they were going to for this relatively uncommon procedure (go-figure) was injecting the equivalent of silicone bathtub caulk into their bums. As my sister would so eloquently put it...GROSS.

Anywho, hope you enjoy the latest photos - we need to get some Art on the walls in there to really tie this thing together - the wainscoting and door trim is an ongoing project at this point but we need to watch ourselves - we are at the point where the bathroom is (almost, darn shower) fully useable and it is really easy to just kick back and get on with our summer. We will prevail though and wrap it up - I think that our motivator to finish will be throwing a little bbq/pool party/get-together to celebrate the end of the project!

Mich

Chair rails and mirrors

Good "visual" progress today :) We have the main walls fully wainscoted! Though we took a step back in the shower/tub area we made big progress with the rest of the space. Flick has mustered up some impressive carpentry skills and did a great job "coping" the chair rail corners so they fit together nicely (I did a great job of holding the work light and supervising). In other news, I taped around the base of the toilet so that is also ready to be caulked (enter pat-on-the-back for B and Mich). Looking good in there!

The big unknown at this point is the storage drawers we bought over the weekend. We took a nice little Sunday drive in the Bronco down to Pier 1 in Broomfield and bought a set of drawers is going to be great in the space. Unfortunately, the store didn't have any in stock other than what was on the floor and they were slightly banged up. We made the executive decision to order a brand new one which SHOULD be coming in on Friday - if not it will come in next Friday which would be highly problematic (the Parents are coming to town) and I will likely spend the weekend finding a Pier 1 with a good one in stock.

As a little side-story, only a few of you have actually met the '69 Bronco in person but she is a real beaut. Big, blue, rusty, gassy, and pretty fun to drive in :) On the way home, her age got the better of her and she stopped running near the top of a hill on CO-93 heading into Boulder. Hmmmm. We popped the hood (or wrestled it open; it may or may not weight 300lbs) and made sure nothing was leaking/smoking/on fire then pushed her up the hill a little ways so that she was in a nice big dirt shoulder. The gas gauge on the Bronco doesn't work and it gets about 1.4 miles to the gallon so we decided to try and put a little more gas in her enormous tank. We didn't get 4 yards from our car with the iconic red fuel receptacle when a mom and her 2 girls on the way to the new Crocs outlet store stopped and picked us up. She brought us to the gas station, back to the Bronco, waited for us to test out the gas theory, and when that didn't work, drove us home. There are some really fantastic people in the world and she is one of them.

About 20 minutes after we got home we got a text from our friends Dan and Cindy asking us if our Bronco had broken down on CO-93 :) I guess when you have a Bronco like ours (see description in previous paragraph), it is easy to identify out on the road (or shoulder). Dan and Cindy have TONS of fun tools/toys (one of those being a tow rope) and a sweet truck which they graciously offered up as a means to get the Bronco home. That makes 3 fantastic people in one day! We are pretty lucky.

To wrap up a long story, the Bronco is "back in the stable" and I am sure all of our neighbors are really glad to see that she is home. Next project on the to-do list...get the Bronco back running. Just in case you were wondering, we don't really ever sit around.

Mich

The sprint to the finish

As entertained as you all are by my written word - we will grace you with some new photos tonight :) Trust me, you would not have been all that excited about a picture of one new panel of wainscoting every night. I am sure that my parents are a little nervous about the fact that the last photo still shows a hole in the floor where the toilet should be with their visit being just over a week away.

We are really working hard on getting that sink in. I am doing a good job of updating the blog (and half watching HGTV.."My First Sale") while Flick is working on the details of the sink.

So, to bring a little reality to our reno here, we have decided that we are going to take out the caulk around the tub tomorrow. One corner of the tub where it meets the two walls in the corner is pooling water and the caulk is absorbing it. Not a good scenario...we are going to take out the caulk, let it dry out for a few days (yes, that means showering at work again...crap), then re-caulk with a 100% pure silicone caulk since it will be exposed to more water. Bummer. Hopefully this will do the trick though and then we won't have to worry about it any more!

Mich

Wainscoting

No pictures to entertain you all with :) We are in the process of installing wainscoting (pronunciation is up for debate on that one, we just alternate between "wayne-scoating" and "wayne-scotting" - wain-scoating is correct I believe). The paneling has really helped us out with that dreadful black waste pipe situation. Now the only visible piece is the cap which is very tolerable.

The sink/vanity is in place and were hoping to have it operating - however, per the usual, we have the wrong water lines so we need to go get those (very important when installing a sink). It is ok though - now that we have the location of the sink I am free to start shopping for the storage furniture...in my head this is the most fun part but we will have to see how long my patience lasts!

It is looking really nice though - we have been showering at home for a week and it is pretty great. We'll get some pictures up soon but we really want to have the sink/fixtures in for a real visual "BAM". I am actually enjoying working on the project more now that we have the toilet and the shower operational. It feels like there is a lot less pressure - though the June 18th deadline is moving in quick! Look for another update on Monday morning after we have the weekend to get things steady moving again!

Mich

Steady moving...

I don't want you all to think that we have halted progress on the bathroom here...we are continuing to move forward with the last few critical steps. You will be happy to know (we are happy to know) that we have both toilet and shower back up and running at this point. This morning's shower at home was the best - never take that for granted. You know what else is going to be great? When I get in the shower in 5 min for my second one of the day. Can't get enough of it :)

So the big piece we are working on now is the wainscoting/trim (our attempt at masking the unsightly waste pipe that was put in outside of the frame of the wall...sweet. This finish carpentry business is tough stuff. B is doing a fantastic job of scribing, coping, and finishing things. He is much more patient at it than I would be - and he got a power sander out of the deal so things are looking up :) This part of the project is pretty important to get to look good but is also hard not to rush - all we want is a finished bathroom! That is why we are taking our time and making sure that when we are getting ticked at the pipe, walls which are not totally square, and contractors who did not put in studs at the recommended distance - we just go to bed!

Headed back to Boston for the Holiday weekend. If we make any great strides tomorrow we'll let you know - otherwise, see you next week :)

Mich

The weekend without a toilet

Is it Sunday night already? What a weekend - we worked our tails off out here pulling two pretty late nights on Friday and Saturday night. The Colorado weather was in our favor this weekend - 90 degrees with 15% humidity on Saturday (I enjoy following the weather) which helped our paint, floor primer, self-leveling compound, and thinset all dry nicely. As a result, the floor is just about done (we have a few areas to grout tomorrow) and the walls are good to go with lights and fan all installed. Woohoo! We are admittedly proud of how it is coming out - we love the tile.

After our weekly breakfast at the South Walnut Cafe this morning, we spent a few hours at Lowes picking up some wainscoting, trim, and getting our "tricky" tiles cut. I've included a photo of the Jetta loaded up with our finishing materials. I knew we left those ski racks on there year-long for a reason :) We did finally do some socializing this weekend and got out for a drink and a late night dinner of "squirrel meat" on Saturday. In all seriousness, we didn't have dinner until midnight and the late night gyro cart was our only option (darn! Honestly though, we love the gyro cart). This evening we had dinner at a reasonable hour with all 4 of the Hedges sisters which was awesome. We love having friends visit with us out here! Every day we are getting closer to a shower in our own house... :)

Mich

Grouted, Primed, wait...is that the toilet?

The fated day has arrived - our toilet is in the living room.

Kudos to the Shanahan Ridge 7 HOA for having a pretty nice little bathroom up at the pool. The next few days are looking pretty decent weather-wise and our home is relatively close to the pool so Flick, Dozer, and I can all go on "bathroom walks" together. Dozer is pumped - "why don't we always do this guys?"

Last night we grouted the shower and finished the joint compound at the drywall/cement board joint. Tonight we got the toilet out and situated in a nice spot in front of the TV. We are always short on seating so it is kind of nice. Then we were able to finish breaking up the tile floor which was previously under the toilet, sanded the aforementioned joint, and primed the walls/ceiling. We really wanted to get the floor leveler down (the solution to the stubborn thinset leftover on the floor from the previous tile) but realized that we need a special primer to put down first. Foiled again!

Keepin on keepin on over here! Having the walls primed makes it feel a lot more finished - can't wait to get that floor down :)

Mich

Now that is a shower!

Finished up tiling in the shower today...WOOOHOOO!!!! Wow, what a great feeling. Not only does it look really nice but this also means that we don't have to tile again tomorrow. We are more than ready to move on to the next step. What that next step is...well, I am not going to venture to guess what tomorrow will bring. For the record, Flick and I really tried to put together some sort of a schedule for the week but it has already been revised twice (we made the first one on Monday so if you do the math, that means we have revised it each day = we never quite get as far as we had hoped to, we apparently are not fast learners).

Here we go, lets wrap this thing up!!! (Ok so we still have a lot to do but it feels like we are right there!)

Movin and Groovin

Workin hard over here to keep things moving forward. To be honest, all that we really want to do is sit on the couch and watch TV - all we are doing is sanding down drywall joints, mixing up thinset, and laying tile. It is really one in the same, right?

Things are looking great though - got the new hot water heater in today which is something every girl looks forward to in her life. Seriously though, the water is STEAMY. We felt pretty good about replacing the old one after the plumber was lamenting about the amount of silt in the bottom - yep, we were due (thanks for the reminders Dad ;) ).

This evening, Flick and I spent a few hours sanding down all the drywall joints - we looked like we had rolled around in powdered sugar but thanks to our sweet new shop vac we are good as new in there. I am writing as we wait for the thinset to slake so I don't know where we are going to end up with our progress tonight. I am guessing we are going to finish up the walls in the shower and start in on the ceiling but not finish it (though we really want to!). That's my prediction - we'll let the pictures we upload at the end of the night be the judge. I have a strong desire to grout the shower tomorrow but I think I am going to need to wait another day. We'll see though...wish us luck!

Tiling...

Came back from CT this afternoon and got right to work. It was kind of refreshing to see the family, have some time away from "the project", and to take a shower in the same building where we were sleeping.

So before we left, we got the first row of tile up. We had been talking about tiling and staring at the wall and holding the tiles up for a few days - once it came time to mix up the thinset, it took us a minute to work up the nerve to just do it. That stuff is basically cement so there is no turning back once you get going.

Today we really got going. Finished the whole back wall and started up the first row of one of the side walls. If anyone is keeping track of the time-stamp you will notice we are really burning the midnight oil here. Fortunately we had some good naps on the plane today which allowed us to keep pushing forward. Flick is doing a great job of mixing and spreading thinset, positioning tile, and getting everything looking really good. I am in charge of spacers, managing the level and sponge, and being the second set of eyes to ensure everything is lining up pretty well. I think we are a pretty good team - we started off the evening with a little KYGO on the radio and once it got too late, I pulled out a few verses of the random songs which popped into my head. Not too many though, Flick hasn't run away yet.

New hot water heater is coming in on Monday morning and I think we are hours away from the toilet coming out...

:) Mich

Taping Seams

Happy Saturday!

Today I tackled the first round of seam taping in the bathroom. B-Flick took off on Friday for an overnight work trip to Cleveland so in order to keep moving forward I had to muster up the courage to take on this new task without a sounding board. We really talk through all of these new steps so that we make sure we are both on the same page so this was a big one for me.

I started on Friday night by realizing we had the wrong kind of tape for the joint compound - fortunately this realization was made before starting work :) Quick trip to Lowes this morning fixed that up and it took about 3 or so hours to get the whole bathroom done. Not too shabby if I do say so myself! All of the reading I did in the days leading up to this project said that this was the worst part about drywalling...perhaps those people didn't actually hang the drywall. Now I'm not saying that the job is perfect, however, this was about 345 times better than hanging the drywall. As I mentioned to Tara and Mark on the phone today (thanks for the call guys!!)...it's like putting frosting on a cake. Actually, I bet I could dominate frosting a cake right now...

If you don't hear much from us in the next day or so that is because we are sanding and applying the next coats of compound - which is probably not all that exciting for those of you who have complete bathrooms. For us, it is THRILLING. We still have some big decisions to make but are pleased with the progress to date.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms following!

Mich

Wall Photos

Just a quick note to accompany our new pics - we've got the walls up except for the one that is over the tub (will require some cement board trimming which we are NOT super excited for). Otherwise, we are looking good! Gnight...

Mich

Walls!

Both camera batteries are dead so you are going to have to take my word on this one - we have made some progress with getting the walls up! We'll get some pictures up there tomorrow - it looks good, very purple as a matter of fact. "Greenboard" (the mold/moisture resistant version of drywall) is actually a nice lavender color. It has made me realize that we did a good thing by picking out a light paint color - small internal rooms with no windows do not fare well with dark walls.

I've decided that I am going to stop trying to predict what we will accomplish during our next working session since we actually have yet to meet those predictions. :) Granted, everything is getting done, just a bit more slowly than we always think it will...

Some things that can slow down a project include:

1.) Trying to keep normal life in check (think walking Dozer, making dinner, going to work...). The hours really slip through our fingers at the end of the day. We officially have almost no clean clothes since, as some of you may know, our dryer doesn't vent to the outside (are we noticing a trend?) so it gets humid in the house when we use it - probably not good when we are trying to keep moisture out of our walls :)

2.) The existing architecture - we have spent more time shimming walls, reinforcing studs so we have something to nail/screw into, and planning how to get the drywall around this ridiculous black waste pipe that sticks out beyond the studs than we could have ever imagined. Square walls would be SO helpful!

3.) The size of the drywall that we can maneuver around the corner into our bathroom - we could have done one wall in 2 big pieces, however, they couldn't make the turn. Darn! That means more seams and screws to put in and then cover up in a few days.

4.) Michelle getting tired and staring at the wall and thinking about how nice it will be when it is done :)

We'll get those photos up there tomorrow for sure! Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Mich

Plumbing...Check...Electricity...Check!

That's right everyone - consider our bathroom fully plumbed and wired. We finished the plumbing for behind our sick new vanity and have all the switches and outlets ready to rock and roll. Guess what that means...we now have electricity back to our bedroom! Who knew that our bathroom and bedroom were on the same circuit? Well, we did after we cut power to the bathroom and subsequently had to get ready for bed by candlelight. We figure our electricity savings this month should offset those cold winter nights when we cranked the heat up to 65 degrees...mmm, balmy.

Now - just because the photos don't show any major transformations, don't think that Flick and I are sitting on the couch eating bonbons. We actually can't even sit on the couch because of all the home improvement supplies we have acquired over the last few weeks. The only time we are off our feet is when we are eating dinner and driving to and from work (ok, and while I am updating the blog). My shins were sore after the first day from spending so much time moving around.

All the behind the walls work should be pretty well squared away at this point so hopefully we can put in the insulation and get some walls up tomorrow. Wouldn't that be great? Walls...what a luxury! Well we are going to catch up on some much needed sleep here; gnight all!

Mich

Progress!

There hasn't been much "visible" progress on the bathroom as we prep the walls/ceilings/plumbing for greenboard/cement backer board...until today. We completed the backer board in the shower - major victory! I'll tell you what, that cement board puts up a good fight. It does not want to be cut, certainly does not want to be hung square on the wall, and absolutely was a pain to work with. We feel pretty good now that it is up there - it very well could stand longer than the rest of the building. Ok, that may be giving us a bit too much credit but considering this is our first go at a bathroom remodel, I think we are getting along alright.

Previously, I mentioned that things take about 2x as long as we had originally thought they would - we talked again about that today, make that 3x longer :) If we can get some more walls up tomorrow it will be faaaantastic. We have some more plumbing to move, duct work to connect to the vent fan, and one outlet that is not cooperating. Add to Flick's victory list a new pot-light over the shower, a new vent fan, and some over-the-vanity lights. He's good I tell ya! Don't worry, we are still working in some normal life things like soccer games, yoga, and breakfast with the rest of the early birds at the South Walnut Cafe (well, normal for us that is; sleep in on the weekends? Not if Dozer has anything to say about it!)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!!

Mich

The art of "dropping in" a bathtub

I know the way I casually stated in our last blog that we were just going to "drop in" the bathtub made it seem like you just saunter over to the hole and plop that puppy into place. Four hours later, the tub is "dropped" - but that reinforced steel son-of-a gun is LEVEL!

PS: First frustration/profanity tonight...we had to let it know we meant business. :) Gnight all!

Battle with the pipes

Demo is complete! We finished up the demolition yesterday then spent 3 hours and a small sum of money at the Home Depot. Rented a truck to lug all of our wall board, tub, and instulation home and made it back in the 75 min required to only have to pay $20 for the truck :) Sweeeeet

Next lesson...things will take about 2x as long as you originally expect. Yep, we discussed it and are 2 days in and about 1 day behind where we thought we would be. We are staying relatively calm and after tonight should be pros at "showering" in the kitchen sink. B-Flick has officially soldered 20 or so joints today including 4 very difficult brass to copper joints. We like to start in the most difficult place when we begin a new trade...for example, re-building the plumbing to the shower. Most people would probably start by moving one pipe, maybe just practicing on some scrap stuff...nope, go big or go home.

We are heading to bed tonight ready to finish up our vapor barrier in the shower area tomorrow then drop in the tub. B has an HOA meeting on Tuesday night so we'll see where to go from there...we are enjoying the tag-team effort with everything! Can't wait for that shower at work in the morning :)

Mich

So I guess we're really doing this, huh?

So sharing walls with your neighbors has the distinct advantage (or disadvantage) of only being able to chisel up tile during hours in which most of the general population is awake...that is if you are a good neighbor. I like to think we are good neighbors.

Day 1 - lessons learned:

1.) Taking tile up off of a concrete slab is a major pain in the parts. Thank goodness our bathroom is the size of a twin bed otherwise we would be here for DAYS...

2.) Always wear long sleeves and long pants no matter what you are doing during demolition. Even if you are in a non-vented, middle of the house bathroom that is kind of humid and smells a little funky, just do it. Tile just bounces off of walls like shrapnel and gets ya. Mom and Dad, we are wearing masks and eye protection.

3.) You should probably clear out your medicine cabinet (or medicine collection as ours would turn out to be - I thought we were healthy people!) occasionally. Although we traditionally move every year, apparently we are really good at sweeping all our medications into a bag and just transporting them from closet to closet. I think the oldest vial expired in 2006 - that is not a joke. Don't be nervous for us, I got rid of all the offenders and we now have a streamlined medicine cabinet of Ibuprofen, Omeprazole, Tums, and eye drops.

So tomorrow we finish chipping up the floor and then buy some special grinder/saw that Flick has always wanted in order to get the residual thinset off the concrete. Then we bust up a tub, rip down some walls (I am so afraid of what is behind there...I am not convinced that we are without flora and fauna), and try and get a new tub in. That is the plan at least...I'll let you know how it goes :)

Mich

Testing 1, 2, 3...

Is this thing on?

In an effort to keep you all up to speed on the progress of our long awaited bathroom remodel, and to avoid leaving out any hilarious details, we are firing up our first ever Blog...Bathroom Stories...no, not those kind.

Brief overview:

Start Date: Friday April 23rd, 2010 (demolition begins)

Latest possible end date (please let it be sooner): June 17th, 2010 (the Parent parent's arrive)

The goal is to gut the bathroom down to the studs and build her back up. One tile, tub, sink, hot water heater, and piece of cement board at a time!

Things to note:

1.) We have only one bathroom

2.) Flick is having dental surgery Thursday - demo starts on Friday

3.) Neither of us have ever done anything like this before

4.) Did I mention we only have one bathroom?

We have already received plenty of good advice from a number of different parties who all look at us with the same concerned look on their faces..."you are doing what?". So you can be sure we will remember to turn off the power to the bathroom before we start the demo, will cover absolutely everything in flux, and will leave the toilet operational for as many hours as possible.

So check in as often or as little as you like. We will do our best to keep the information flowing so you can keep tabs on our progress and maybe pick up a few tips along the way...hahahha, we'll see.

Mich